Top rights activists say Filipino cardinal-designate Pablo Virgilio David should continue his commitment to truth and justice and raise his voice for the poor and powerless communities suffering from corruption and dynastic politics.
“May the good cardinal remain steadfast in speaking truth to power and use his platform to call out government abuse, corruption, and ineptness at a time when dynasties rule with impunity,” lawyer and climate activist Aaron Pedrosa told UCA News on Oct. 8.
Pedrosa spoke after Pope Francis named David, 65, the bishop of Kalookan and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Philippines (CBCP), as one of the 21 new cardinals including five Asians, in the Vatican on Oct. 6.
Shortly after the news broke, David told national Catholic channel TV Maria that being a cardinal “is not a personal honor, but a profound responsibility.”
Pedrosa said David has a long track record of “working tirelessly to bring the Church closer to the poor,” so it is “no coincidence” that Pope Francis selected him to be a cardinal.
Pedrosa, the secretary-general of the multisectoral group Sanlakas, said they wanted David to “follow the pope’s example by being the voice of the oppressed in the face of rising attacks against human rights defenders, development aggression, and capitalist exploitation.”
He expects David to “rise to the challenge of leading the church in tackling inequality, poverty, and abuse of political power to guide the millions of Catholics not just into discernment but collective action.”
Danny Carranza, secretary-general of farmers’ rights group Katarungan, lauded Pope Francis for appointing David.
“Cardinal David is known as an advocate for social justice and this new position will hopefully give social justice issues a higher profile and attention,” Carranza told UCA News.
Pro-poor approach
David was born on March 2, 1959, in Betis, Pampanga province, central Luzon, in the Philippines.
He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of San Fernando in 1983. In 2006, he was appointed an auxiliary bishop of San Fernando and became the bishop of Kalookan Diocese in 2015.
David studied and obtained a doctoral degree in Theology from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. He is recognized as a leading Biblical scholar in the Philippines.
He was elected the vice-president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) in February.
Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara, national bishops’ conference vice president, said the pope’s choice of David and the 20 others from around the world represents, yet again, his love for the peripheries, according to CBCP News.
“The pope’s choice of Bishop David is consistent with his selection of cardinals who reach out to the peripheries,” Vergara said.
He highlighted the cardinal-designate’s work establishing several mission stations within his diocese “to serve the poorest of the poor better.”
A sizeable portion of Kalookan diocese’s estimated 1.3 million people are informal settlers, according to CBCP News.
David established a partnership-based Urban Poor Ministry to offer pastoral care to the migrants.
To address poverty and consequent human trafficking, he created a ministry to prevent exploitation and to ensure the protection of vulnerable communities.
Caring for young offenders, especially those imprisoned for crimes, has also been a priority for him. He once said prison ministry is “a Christian duty.”
Voice for justice
David raised a strong voice against a deadly drug war launched by former President Rodrigo Duterte. He decried that the so-called war had turned his diocese into “a killing field” and called it a “bloody war on drugs.”
He has been involved in setting up a team for proper documentation of drug-related extrajudicial killings.
He also started a community-based drug rehabilitation program, which has three main components: patient care, family care, and community care.
As Francis named new cardinals, David was in Rome to attend the Synod on Synodality convened by the pope.
David reportedly emphasized that addressing poverty is essential to building a Church that serves the poor.
“If the poor don’t come to Church, the Church must go to the poor,” David said.
The new cardinals will be inducted in a consistory in the Vatican on Dec. 8.
David is slated to become the youngest and the fifth Filipino cardinal alive.
Others are Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, 67, a former archbishop of Manila; Cardinal Jose Advincula, 72, of Manila; retired archbishops Gaudencio Rosales, 92, of Manila and Orlando Quevedo, 85, of Cotabato.
Cardinals aged over 80 are ineligible to vote in a conclave to elect a pope.
